Updated August 19, 2016 at 11:52 AM;Posted August 19, 2016 at 10:32 AM

lee1.JPG

Former Mayor Lee Alexander stands outside his private law office in Syracuse on August 19, 1986 after FBI agents executed a search warrant seeking evidence that Alexander received kickbacks while mayor. In the background is an FBI agent and Post-Standard reporter Mike McAndrew.
(Post-Standard file photo)

Rumors of corruption had circulated throughout much of former Syracuse mayor Lee Alexander's tenure. But the downfall of Syracuse's longest-serving mayor, came after he left office.

And it truly began 30 years ago today, August 19, 1986, after federal agents entered the homes and offices of Alexander and one his closest associates and confiscated boxes full of documents.

Agents of the FBI and IRS, carrying search warrants, spent more than 12 hours in Alexander's downtown office going through his papers. They left the building at about 9 p.m. with large boxes and several legal folders filled with documents.

At the same time, agents were visiting the ex-mayor at his condominium.

"I was preparing to take a shower," Alexander said. "I never got to it."

Although the agents would decline to say what they took, Alexander, who had left office on December 31 after 16 years as mayor, told reporters that the materials were city records from his administration, telephone indexes and personal diaries.

"They have taken with them records I would have gladly given them," Alexander said.

He said the searches were "not a pleasant experience," but he was worried by the probe.

The searches were the latest developments in a federal grand jury investigation of possible payoffs involving Alexander's administration.

Alexander said he had not been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury.

But less than a year later, Alexander would be indicted on 40 counts by a federal grand jury. He plead not guilty, and called the indictment "a volume of fiction."

On January 4, 1988, he agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion, racketeering, and conspiracy and is sentenced to ten years in prison.

Released in October 1993 after serving 5 and a half years, he died on Christmas Day, 1996.

The scandal largely overshadows Alexander's legacy, which included the construction and rehabilitation of 12,000 housing units for the poor and elderly, improvements of Hancock Airport, and the construction of seven new firehouses.